Cheyenne
by Sapientia
Summary: When Duo finds out that a childhood friend has been kidnapped, his senses go to the fritz in a desperate attempt to rescue her before it's too late for L2's fave bad-girl bandit...
1. Default Chapter

Cheyenne – Early Reunion   
  
"No…Stop…Eyaaaa!!!" Zacha screamed in pain as she felt it. The small, cold steal making an incision on her soft flesh. Her screams and cries proved to be in vain though, as she felt his malignant grip on her twine-bound arm tighten.   
She felt it. Something warm and sticky flowing down her arm above her wrist a few inches. Hot tears swept down her face and got caught in her blindfold. And those tears that escaped flooded the front and sides of her face and were mixed with sweat and cold, pure hatred.   
A large hand pressed down around the cut in her arm, giving her temporary relief from the festering pain. Within the shadows a few feet away, a pair of burgundy lips smiled wickedly. "You know", Lady Une said, "your screams will do you no good. I for one am not phased in the least by you pleas, so I now give you an option: You can either cooperate and tell us what was on that disk and all information you know of your pilot friends, or we can force it out of you. Your call, but make it quick. Bruno!" The large man holding Zacha's arm snapped to attention, and let it go, thus letting the pain return full force. "Ma'am!" he said. Lady Une smiled. "Well little one? What is your answer? Will tell us what we want to know?"   
The sweat on Zacha's face doubled as she fought emotions and sickness. "I-I…" she stammered. Zacha tried to clear her head to think, when Duo's smiling face imbedded itself in her mind. "D-Duo…"   
Lady Une's ears pricked up. "Well??"   
"…No… I've made… my decision…" she said weakly. "I…WON'T tell you. I can't betray them like that…"   
"Very well…" Lady Une growled. "Bruno, inject the last serum. Afterward, if she still won't cooperate, you can have her and do as you like with her." Bruno got the hint and grinned at the well-beaten girl.   
Zacha felt the room spin. I must think straight, she thought. If I don't, Lord only knows what I might say… Think! She gave a quick, painful sigh. How did I get into this mess?? Events of the past few days flooded her mind. Her ties with the Gundam pilots felt like they could be her saviors, her sanity, and at times like this, her doom.   
She thought back a few days. She figured if she could hang in there and think to herself, maybe she'd get a miracle; either someone would come save her, or she'd die before telling them anything. Think…   
  
Only a few days beforehand, she and her gang had felt unfriendly eyes watching them. But being wrapped up in the holidays, you don't really notice much else.   
Zacha bounded from rooftop to rooftop, trying to ditch the two cops behind her. "Stop! Thief! Halt, You are under arrest! Get back here!!!"   
As she ran, she turned her head behind. "Me? Stop? Whatever for?!" She laughed, pulling something out of her pocket. It looked like a sampler tube of lipstick. Still running, she put a kiss on it, tossed it behind her at the officers, and jumped off the  
building quickly. Confused, the officers stopped to examine the object. It beeped, and they looked closer at it. It beeped again. They got closer. It blew them up (and half the building). On the ground, a very sick grin formed on her face. She sighed, inhaling the air deeply. "Ahh, I just LOVE the smell of C4 in the morning… Now, onto breakfast!" she said, running off to her meeting place. A few blocks down, she walked into a building, with several other people waiting for her. "Morning boys," she said. Some nodded at her, some hugged her, and some just mumbled their greetings. She couldn't help that C4 explosions made her perky. Each of  
them laid out food, fresh and non-perishable, on the table, and Zacha told them where to take it; non-perishable in the bin for holiday dinner, fresh to the kids. It was their typical morning.   
It was only one day until Thanksgiving, and the past few weeks had been spent gathering and preparing food for the 478 children she took care of. But finally, it was all done and cooked. She had enough for everyone to have a decent sized plate this year.  
She even had some extras.   
Taking several tins, she walked into the preparing kitchen of this month's home; (she changes homes every month so it'll be harder to find her); and began to prepare a plate of food. The plate was laden with a banquet; half a small turkey, stuffing, mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and several other good things. She wrapped it in plastic, set it in one tin, and placed it in a large box. She put two-dozen of her "Duo Maxwell Pick-Me-Up Chocolate Chip Surprise Cookies" into another tin, and an apple pie in the last.   
She set them gently in the box, tossed in a semi-sweet note and closed the box. Just to make it look like a package from the old movies, she wrapped it in brown paper and tied it with string. She smiled to herself. What's missing? she thought. It hit her, and then she grinned herself silly. She applied her tube of midnight-wine lipstick and kissed the box, then sprayed it with her Star Dust perfume. "Perfect," she giggled.   
She smiled to herself, and stood at the door, giving a shrill whistle. "Jimmy!" she called. "I've got a very important mission for you." Promptly a young man presented himself before her, his blue eyes shining with curiosity. "Okay," she said smiling.   
this is your first big job for me, so I'm counting on you to do it quick and do it well." He smiled with anticipation. "Your mission, should you choose to accept it or not, is to deliver this very important package. Now, I know you've run with Mike a few times, so you should know the place; but this time you've gotta go solo. Mike's out running errands for me, so he'll be back later."   
Jimmy looked up at her. "A package?" he asked, blinking. "So what's in it, boss? Bombs, instructions… what? Or should I not ask?" He looked at the package, saw the lipstick and smelled the perfume. Must be a bomb, he thought.   
Zacha laughed. "That dear is none of your concern. Just a word of warning: Do not tip it any way other that this; do not leave it in heat or cold; make sure it gets there before supper time tomorrow; and do not, I repeat DO NOT attempt to open it in an  
way. If when you get there, the recipient finds that you have meddled with the package, I've given him permission to cut off a finger, and then when you return I'll totally chew you out. Understand?" He paled a moment, but nodded. "Good. Other than that  
have a good time, stay out of too much trouble, and if you run into any that you can't handle, give the signal. Someone should be in the area."   
He nodded once, and turned to leave, then stopped at the door. "Hey boss? I know there's got to be a shorter route so… How about the Under-roads*?"   
"I was waiting for that. Very observant. Go just out of the Old Territory, then into the Under-roads. Take road four dash three. And if anyone asks, tell him or her Cheyenne sent you, and they'll guide you through the Under-roads, and protect you once  
you get above ground. After the first time through, you should know how to get back. And should you need some reference, take this." She handed him a slip of paper with instructions on it.   
He nodded his thanks, and dashed off smiling. It was his first big job for her, and saw it as his chance to prove himself ready to be one of her top ten men in the gang. It had always been his dream for some reason, and now, she had asked him to deliver  
this package for her. Me, he thought. Doing this big job, asked by Zacha herself. Wow! Talk about good karma! Maybe it's a sign. Maybe I really will be one of her ten finest….   
Zacha smiled to herself as she saw the boy, over-flowing with self-pride and joy, go off into the streets as it neared noon. He'll be fine, she thought. He should arrive at four dash three by six 'o clock, rest in one of the pit-rests in the Under-road till seven or eight a.m. tomorrow, finish his way in the Under-roads by ten, and arrive at his destination by lunch time. For the way back, he'll probly' have enough sense to hitchhike with one of our friends or something.   
  
Duo accepted the box with a grin that the Cheshire cat would envy. He grinned at Jimmy, who was trembling head to toe and did an awful job at hiding it. "Heh," he said. "Don't be so nervous kiddo. I don't bite. Hard." He laughed, and that relaxed Jimmy  
little. "Here," Duo said, handing him a tip. "For your troubles."   
Jimmy blinked, then smiled widely. "Thanks!" he said happily. His shaking had lessened, and he left with his escorts, who had offered him a lift back to the edge of the Old Territory. From there he was on his own, and should be back home by dinnertime.  
just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Duo hugged the box gleefully, and bounded into the safe house. The other pilots looked up at him, slightly dazed by his actions. He went into the kitchen and tore the box open. He saw the note, and sat down to read.  
'Dear Duo,   
Wussup? Well, I knew you'd be eating Hungry-Man for dinner, so I took the liberty of sending you some Thanksgiving dinner. The whole dinner is in the biggest tin. Just throw it in the microwave for three minutes on high, stir potatoes and stuffing, back  
in the microwave for one minute on high, and serve. There's a can of cranberry sauce. (How can you EAT that?!) The cookies are for you, and the last tin has an apple pie in it. That is TO BE SHARED with your pilot friends. Well, talk to ya later, and enjoy your Thanksgiving. Later!   
Love forever, 'Lock & Key',   
Zacha'   
Duo grinned, silently thanking her. He followed the instructions, and poured himself a small glass of wine to go with it. He sat at the table, and the other pilots, curious, peeked in and saw Duo bow his head in prayer.   
"What's he doing?" Quatre whispered. "And who sent him that?"   
Heero grunted. "Looks to me like he's praying; a rare sight indeed. And he'd better be prepared to die, because obviously someone knows where we live…"   
"Judging from the smile," Trowa said, "must be a friend of his. But I agree with Heero…" They all looked up as they heard the last of his dinner prayer.   
"And God bless Zacha, today and ever after. Kindness beyond her years, and good cooking out of the blue! Now… commence eating!" Before anyone could bat an eye he was politely eating his food.   
The pilots walked back into the living room and sat, waiting for Duo to finish so they could have a little 'chat' with him. About forty-five minutes later, he had finished dinner, and was happily munching the cookies. He sat the pie on the counter, and  
left with the cookies to his half of his shared room. He sat munching on his bed, in thought. Hmmm, he thought. She's been so nice… And she's never forgotten to send the cookies annually, like she promised. And here she's sent me a wonderful dinner, the  
cookies promised, and a pie for me and the guys. I've gotta send her something back… but what? Then it hit him like a bullet. He grabbed the phone, and closed the door mostly, leaving a crack. He opened up a small black book, and dialed a number. The other  
pilots peeked in and listened at the door.   
The phone rang once. Twice. Someone picked up. It was Zacha. "Hello?" she said. "May I ask who's calling, and to whom this call is directed?"   
Duo laughed. "Such wonderful phone manners. Always did have 'em."   
Tears of joy and surprise began to form in an eye as the monitor showed Duo's face. "Duo! Hey, boy! Long time no see. What's up? Did you get your dinner? We just finished ours an hour ago."   
"Yeah, I got it. And it was wonderful. Thank you for sending it." And they began to chat away, about recent stuff, old memories, and just about everything from local gossip to how blue the sky is. The other pilots watched and hung on every detail.   
"Who's SHE?" Quatre whispered. "Any of you guys know her?"   
They shook their heads. "Nope," said Trowa. "But it looks like they know each other pretty well. Girlfriend maybe?"   
"Nah, he'd have at least mentioned her. Wouldn't he?"   
Heero shook his head. "No, not likely." Their ears pricked up as they heard talk about them.   
"Yeah," Duo laughed. "I've got a present for you. My gundam video tapes all that happens in the cockpit, and all around it outside. And I've got my own home-video collection. Enjoy! I'll narrate as it plays!" The other pilots' eyes grew wide as saucers  
as Duo played video clips of them all before, during and after battles, but even better their personal lives. "And here we have a clip of Heero while he's asleep. Doesn't he look so sweet when he's not awake? And look, he's cracking a grin in his sleep! Now THAT'S rare!" Heero bit his lip. Duo, not hearing the low growl and Japanese mutterings and threats, continued.   
"And here we are, running from the notorious Relena Peacecraft. She's totally in love with Heero, and he, as well as the rest of us, can't stand her! And here's one I had to sneak to get; here you see a tender embrace of Quatre and Trowa…"   
Zacha gave him a funny look. "Uh, could we skip this part? Not my thing…" Quatre and Trowa silently thanked her as they blushed shades of red.   
"Okay. And here's another sneak; here's Wufei watching a movie. But what's this? He's crying! And what's the movie? Titanic!" Zacha was in stitches and Wufei was ready to kill. At that moment, they were all ready to pounce. Duo stopped the disk. "Well,  
that's all that was on the disk. What'd you think?"   
Zacha was having a hard time breathing, she was laughing so hard. "That… that was rich! Hahahaha!!! Thanks, Duo. That was a wonderful present. Oh! I've got something to show you." She pulled out a photo, and pressed it to the screen. It was at the Maxwell Church. There was Duo as a child, sitting in a tree, having his hair brushed by a tanned girl with butter-blonde hair the same length. On the steps of the church stood Father Maxwell and Sister Helena. The picture was taken by one of the other kids. Duolooked at the picture, and his mind was flooded with memories. "Do you remember this, Duo?"   
"Yeah, I do… Hey Zacha? Could you fax me that picture?"   
"Hm? Oh, okay. It'll take a few minutes, though; the fax is old. I mean, I practically built this phone out of pieces from other things." She set the picture in, and it went to work. Then they started up with the singing. The pilots were slightly bewildered. "The plot thickens," Heero whispered. "Childhood buddy, I guess." They all looked up as they heard Duo singing "Bye-bye Miss American Pie". "And who knew he sang?"   
Songs went on for minutes, American songs ranging from old and soft rock, to heavy metal love ballads, then onto Christmas songs. The room was flooded with the sounds of a lovely duet singing a moving rendition of "I'll Be Home For Christmas". The last line was Zacha's.   
"..I'll be home for Christmas… If only in… my... dreams." The songs were over, and Duo smiled at her.   
"You know," he said. "We've gotta series of missions coming up, then some leave time. So maybe during my leave time I can come and visit. How's that? I'll be home for Christmas!"   
Zacha smiled widely. "You mean it? As in coming to stay for a while, see the old gang, meet the new, have dinner… A real visit? Wow! That'd be great! But when do you have to leave for L7?"   
"Tonight, we all leave for Earth. We'll be there by tonight, be done before long, and be back by tomorrow. Really big mission. But I'll call you right as I'm heading back, Kay? But I'd best be getting off the phone now; gotta get ready to leave. But I'  
talk to ya later, Zacha."   
"All right. Later then." Quickly she applied a layer of her lipstick and kissed the screen. Duo saw the lipstick print, and matched the kiss on his screen. She smiled and they hung up.   
If only there weren't the screen between the kiss… Lifelong dream will ONE day will come true… he thought. He smiled to himself and finally noticed the four pairs of eyes watching him intently. They all stepped through the door, and at that moment he   
w the deadly glowers they gave him. "Uhh… H-hey guys… Umm… Uh-oh, I'm screwed… You… saw the conversation. Right? Guys? Umm… Eh-heh, eh-heh…" Duo wasn't the only one who was being spied upon then caught. As Zacha hung up the phone, smiling to herself, she saw a body calmly sitting in her living room chair. The woman sat there, very clam and had been polite enough to wait for her to finish her conversation. Zacha eyed her suspiciously. "Can I help you?" she asked.   
The woman smiled. "Yes, I think you can. I am Lady Une. Are you the one they call Zacha?"   
Zacha caught her breath. "Who wants to know?" One hand behind her, she fumbled around in her hip pack, looking for her mini smoke grenades.   
"My administrator. We have received a tip that Zacha, who we all know is a well-known terrorist, lived here, and was in alliance with the Gundam pilots. We've also learned that she has information on the pilots and their gundams that would prove very,   
very useful to the people I work for. So now we are seeking Zacha in hopes that she would willingly aid us. We'd even be willing to pay her."   
Now Zacha knew this was bad. She was about to try and say or do something to stall Lady Une when she saw two very big, very mean looking men come in. "I'm sorry, but she's not interested!" Zacha threw down several of her tiny grenades and made an unsuccessful run for it. In the midst of the coughing and confusion, a third man who waited outside saw the smoke and a small girl bursting out of it. With incredibly fast reflexes, he grabbed her with one hand and easily avoided her flailing fists.   
Lady Une and the two other men came out of the building, eyes fixed on the tiny girl. While the man was distracted, she gave him one swift kick; which released her from his grip. Trying to run again, the two men tackled her at once, as the third got in  
he driver's seat of the parked van. "No!" she screamed. "No! Let me go! Let me go! No!!! Help! Four-Fingers, Juno, someone, help!!!"   
Lady Une looked around nervously. "Shut her up!" she yelled. "She's a gang leader, so her friends will be here any moment. Hurry Up!" One man held Zacha by both arms, and the other, grinning cruelly, gave Zacha one painful blow to the lower ribs. He knocked the wind out of her, and the skin had already begun to bruise. She doubled over in pain, hot tears streaming down her face. Still trying to breathe, she made no movement of escape. They threw her into the back of the van roughly, and the men got in after her. Lady Une hopped in the passenger seat, and they sped off.   
Within the van, just to make sure she wouldn't pull anything, her hands were handcuffed behind her, and a slipknot rope was tied around her neck. The other end was attached to the wall of the van, tied just tight enough for her to breathe. If she were   
tug ever so slightly, she'd be strangling herself. Even if she went back to the wall, the rope wouldn't loosen; it had to be loosened manually. Oh shit, she thought. I'm royally zugged beyond hope. Father Maxwell… Sister Helena… Please… Give me strength...  
  
What seemed like hours later, the van stopped. The one man took the rope off her neck, but blindfolded her. Just in case. The man picked her up and toted her in the building, her slight weight seemingly no more than a sack of potatoes. She was roughly   
placed on a chair; the one man held her down and the other quickly tied her tightly in twine. Her stomach was all in knots, and her heart was in her mouth. She trembled lightly, and the one man grinned at her.   
"Lady Une will be with you in a moment," he said. "But in the mean time, I'll introduce myself. My name is Bruno, and maybe later on, after a nice hot bath…" He placed his hand on her stomach, tracing the patterns with his finger. "…Maybe we could get to know each other a little better…" She strained against the twine that held her. "Ooh, you'd better be thankful, Bruno," she growled. "If I could move my feet at the very least, you'd be nut-mash."   
He gave her a sick smile. "Ooh, feisty… Good. I like a girl with a lot of fight… Those ones are wonderful when they're pinned down in bed." Frightened and outraged, she once again strained at her bonds, cutting them into her and making her wrists bleed.  
She gave out a small cry, and then ceased her struggle as the pain shot up her arms. "Oh, don't hurt yourself too badly trying to get free, dear," Lady Une said as she came in. "That's our job. I see you've met Bruno. Now let's begin." And so, Lady Une started to ask Zacha all kinds of questions; Zacha refused to answer.   
Hours went by, and Zacha was now battered, bruised and bleeding. She was already fighting two different truth serums, chemicals that would eventually kill her, incredible pain from bleeding from many places, and the urge to pass out. She could feel the very life draining from her with every cut they made on her body. Her lip was swollen and bleeding, and Bruno's large hand came flying down, giving her an additional bruise to the already sore and bleeding spots on her face. "The truth!" he yelled. "What was on that disk?!" Zacha winced as tears mixed with sweat and blood.   
"Forget it," Lady Une sighed. "Let's try a few different methods…" Zacha gasped and trembled in fear…   
Elsewhere, on Earth, a certain smiling pilot picked up the phone in a room and dialed Zacha's number. It rang three times before somebody picked up. "Hey Zacha," he said. "It's me again. I was just calling to…" Duo stopped in mid-sentence as the screen  
showed the person who answered; it was a very big man with only four fingers on one hand, and a necklace of strung human finger bones. "Who… are you? And where's Zacha?"   
The man glared. "That's exactly what we'd like to know; she's gone."   
Duo's pupils got to the size of pencil dots. "Wh-what do you mean 'gone'? Gone out shopping? Gone out visiting? Gone where…?" Duo's stomach did flip-flops, as his heart told him what his head wouldn't hear.   
"Just as I said; GONE. Kidnapped. We found a handful of her mini smoke grenade shells on the floor, and outside her house are a bunch of tire skid marks. And it looks like there was a struggle just out front. There's her footprints, several sets of men  
prints, and prints of another woman. And one of the boys down the streets says he heard her screaming, but she was gone before they could get to her…. Gone…"   
Duo's eyes flooded with fear for his friend. Oh God, no… he thought. The gang's nearly tripled in size, she told me. And then there's her ten finest… So many fighters covering the area, and they couldn't save her..?! No! This can't be!! I'll find her a  
kill them all when I find them…Zacha… Just hang on… Please… Wait for me…Duo hung up the phone before Four-Fingers could say another word. He ran out of the building at lighting speed, heading for a jet. Heero followed him in.   
"What's the hurry? Where are you going," Heero asked.   
Duo panted and blurted everything together. "She's in big trouble… They've kidnapped her… I'm going to murder them all…" Heero came up next to him, placing a hand on Duo's shoulder.   
"Hey, slow down. Now, what's going on?"   
"I'll explain on the way there. But I'm going to need your help. Big time." Heero sat down in the chair next to Duo and strapped himself in. He noticed that Duo's knuckles were white as he gripped the controls, starting it up. Once airborne, he pressed  
buttons and pushed bars to make it go as fast as possible. He already had several thrusters, pushing their maximum speed. He was about to put on the last few thrusters, when a thought, dressed as a chibi-style Zacha, popped into his mind. 'Duo,' it said.  
If you throw all the thrusters pushing maximum like that, you'll blow the engines and won't get anywhere.' Duo sighed. Thank you Zacha, for my sanity, he thought. Heero nodded as Duo explained the current situation to him.   
"So what you want me to do," Heero said, "is get the girl while you make a big distraction."   
"That's about the size of it," Duo said through clenched teeth. I've never seen him so angry, Heero thought.   
A few hours later, they arrived on L2 at the main airport. A boy at the flight tower called in. "This is L2 flight tower," he said. "Please identify yourself now."   
Duo picked up the microphone to the tower. "This is Shiningami! Let me land or be blown to bits, greeted by Death Himself!!"   
The boys face lightened in a welcoming smile. "Duo!" he said. "Come on in. land at gate five. Just go into the hanger; I'll meet you there." Duo landed, though it was more like the rush emergency landing. The jet had just stopped when he jumped out. He  
an to meet the boy. "Hey," he said to the boy. "Lemme in your office; I've gotta use your computer." The boy saw Duo's deadly glare, and nodded.   
Duo rushed on the computer, hacking into every system on L2, looking for a building with an incredible amount of security on it. He already knew that the captor was the type to take all precautions. But at this time, no caution could stop Duo Maxwell…   
  
The touch of the cold steel blade on Zacha's sweating neck brought her back to the present and out of her thoughts. It slid across her neck on the broad side, giving her the chills. Lady Une sneered. "Well little one? Now that you've had a few moments to think, will you tell us anything at all??"   
"…No," Zacha growled. "I TOLD you already; I will not betray their trust in me that quickly…"   
Lady Une glowered at the beaten and bleeding girl. "Fine. Bruno, you can have her now. If she won't cooperate, she's of no use to us. Do what you want; I'll be in the office." With that, Lady Une left the room, leaving Bruno alone with Zacha.   
"Well," he said. "Now that we're alone…" Zacha strained against the twine once more as she felt Bruno coming up close to her. "Well, there's still some fight in you. You're a strong girl, taking all that and you're still strong enough to be a fair fight  
if I let you go. But I'm not. It's more fun with you all tied up at the moment…" He snickered, taking the small knife to her shirt. He kissed her ear and whispered, "Don't move; if you do, you'll be cut with this knife. Can't do much with you the way you  
are right now, but until then, I can have a little fun…"   
  
"Found it!" Duo said at last. He ran out, grabbing Heero by the wrist. "Let's Go!!" They jumped into the jet, and barely had the door closed when Duo was going to the thrusters. Hang on Zacha… he thought. A few more minutes…. Hang on! It wasn't telepathy, but they could always feel when one needed the other most. And right now, he could feel her life force fading away further by the second.   
Memories of the two always together played in his mind; the games, the fist-fights, the joys, the sorrows, and the promises and vows that followed. Duo clenched his teeth, fighting tears. They are SO dead….!   
Zacha held her breath as she felt the knife slicing down her shirt. "Please," she whispered. "Don't do this to me. Please…" Bruno stroked her face, and heard her whimper.  
"Well," he said, standing up. "You are getting weaker. Just had to push the right buttons so to speak. Let's see…" he looked at her braided bun. "Now that's gonna get in the way later on, so I'll fix it." He stood behind her and untied the bun, lettin  
her long blonde braid hang to the floor. "This should fix it..!"   
Roughly, he grabbed the braid and pulled up, partly lifting her off of the seat. She screamed, but he didn't hear. Pieces of hair were ripped out from pulling, and anything in her still bleeding arms ripped downward. The twine that held her wrists dug   
again, more deeply, fresh blood running down her hands. With her last amount of strength, Zacha screamed for all she was worth. He took the knife and cut the braid. Zacha passed out as she felt her loose hair falling down around her shoulders; then all or her went black. Bruno laughed, but then stopped suddenly as he saw the explosions in the hall and heard the screams of the men. "What the Hell?!" he yelled. "What's going on??"   
The explosions came into the room. Bruno looked at the doorway, where Heero and Duo stood. Heero's expression was it's usual, but Duo's grin wasn't the one he usually had; it was the kind of grin a homicidal killer grins when he's thoroughly pissed. Then they split up; Duo shot at men in the hall, then fixed his eyes on Bruno. He glanced at Zacha; he saw that she was beaten, bleeding, and that her shirt was torn open. Then he looked at her hair. She wasn't moving at all, and that sent Duo's mind and heart racing. "Did YOU do that to her?" he demanded. "Answer me!" Bruno nodded evilly. "You sorry bastard!! You know what you are? You're dead, that's what you are!!" Without regret or second thought, Duo shot the man in cold, pure hate. Then he ran to he  
Heero with Zacha. "Heero," he said. "Is she…?"   
"No," he answered tonelessly. "Not yet. Will be soon, though from the looks of her injuries." As fast as they could, the to of them cut the ropes. Heero gently removed the scalpel that had been inserted into her vein and taped there, carefully picked her up and carried her out in his arms. Duo was about to follow when he saw the braid laying on the floor, part of it in a puddle of blood. He picked up the braid and the empty needles quickly and put it in his pocket, then ran off with Heero. Heero laid Zacha down in a back seat of the jet and then got in the driver's seat. Duo jumped in and sat on the ground next to her. Zacha was rescued, the building was burning down, and Lady Une was cursing her eyes out at them. "It didn't look like she was breathing very much, if at all," Heero said emotionlessly. "But, there's a chance she might live. So until we get to the safe house, there should be a little emergency kit under her seat. Try to wipe most of the blood off, then wrap her wrists in the bandages. We'll have to wait for Wufei when we get back. But in the mean time," he paused and shot Duo this glare that could scare a rabid wolf, "you've got a LOT of explaining to do on your part."   
The jet flew off to their L2 safe house, and Duo attempted to explain a portion of the history between he and the unconscious girl. He stroked her face gently as he explained, hoping that she'd open her eyes.   
Heero walked into the safe house, followed by Duo, carrying a small girl. As Duo gently laid her on the couch, he looked up to see the other pilots. They looked at Duo, then looked at the girl. Duo took a good look at her as well. Aside from her lovely hair being lopped off and she being in a nice state unconscious, he examined her current physical state. Her usually golden-tan skin had paled to a dull apricot. Her lips were nearly white, except for the part that had stopped bleeding. Her thick eyelashes looked so dark on her face it was almost scary. Duo sat there looking at her, praying that her turquoise eyes would flutter open any moment now. He turned to Wufei, and handed him the needles carefully. "They pumped these into her," he said. "You're good with medicines. Can you help her? Please Wufei…"   
All could hear the genuine concern in his voice. Wufei sighed. "I'll look at them. I've got a pretty good idea of what they are, but until I know exactly, just watch and make sure she keeps breathing." Wufei walked into his room and shut the door to examine the chemicals. The other pilots held quiet conversation in the living room. After what seemed like forever, Wufei emerged from the room with a slip of paper. "Trowa," he said. "I need you to run out and get me the things on here. And no, Duo, you may not go with him. It should only take a few minutes." Trowa nodded, taking the list and leaving. "Now, I need one of you to take Duo out of here and keep him out for a while. I don't care if you tie him to his gundam, just keep him out of here for a few hours while I try and help the girl."   
Heero nodded, and grabbed Duo by the arm, practically dragging him out the door and down the stairs. Quatre stood beside the couch. "How is she?" he asked curiously. Wufei didn't reply as he undid the rest of her shirt, following the line of cuts and small slashes. Quatre saw that Wufei's expression was firm and grim.   
"Quatre," he said. "For now, get me a bowl of cold water and a wash cloth. I need to start cleaning these." Quatre walked into the kitchen to fetch the water and washcloth. How cruel, he thought. Heartless… How can they just DO that to such a small girl? He brought out the things asked for and sat in a chair waiting. Just waiting. Trowa came through the door with a box of medical supplies and handed them to Wufei.   
"We'll be in the kitchen if you need us," he said, taking Quatre's arm. As they sat in the kitchen. Wufei worked for nearly two hours before showing any signs of being near done. He'd cleaned and dressed her wounds, and had washed all the blood off of her. Her wrists were sealed and bandaged, and he'd injected four or five different antidotes to the toxins originally injected. To finish it off, he put one of Duo's tee shirts on her, propped her head up, and laid a thin blanket over her. Finally, he stood up and went to the bathroom to wash his hands off. His work was done, and Duo owed him big time. Not too long after, Heero came in with a frazzled looking Duo. In one hand Duo had a bag with some of Zacha's clothes in it. He sat the bag down and looked at her.   
"Is she alive?" he asked to no one in particular.   
"Yes," Wufei answered. "She lives. And with some luck, she'll make it through till the morning. We'll just have to watch her. But for now she's asleep. You look exhausted. You should get some sleep too."   
"Later. For now I'll just sit in here and make sure she doesn't stop breathing." His own words stung him. But he was determined that she would live. The other pilots went into the kitchen, occasionally glancing out at Duo, who would wait there, by her side. Waiting for her to wake up and live.   
  
~owari~  



	2. Wake Up Call

Cheyenne – Wake Up Call   
  
Duo had sat there by the couch restlessly. The only times he slept was when he fell asleep or when one of the pilots would drug his coffee. It had been nearly four days since he had brought Zacha to the safe house, and he watched her like a hawk. Making  
sure that she was still breathing and for any signs of her waking up. Incredibly tired, Duo meant only to rest his eyes on the third night. But his 'few moments' turned into a few hours, as he'd fallen asleep with his head in his folded arms, propped on  
the edge of the couch. The other pilots were relived when he finally fallen asleep.   
The sun was shining, and a warm, bright light filled Zacha's mind. She followed the light; embraced it. She felt a new energy surging through her veins, a new blood beating in her heart. She now realized the passage of time, here in this 'in-between';   
she remembered getting weaker, then darkness. She remembered the space-like void she had been in, caught between life and death. Too tired and unable to choose, she remained there until she could decide. She also remembered hearing the voices of her friends  
and those who loved her, and saw their faces formed in the darkness. At that moment the option presented itself; two tunnels, one of green growing things and endless streams of water, the other of that warm light. As she embraced the light, she looked   
all around her, felt herself getting stronger, and then she opened her eyes.   
Zacha groaned softly and squeezed her eyes. She inhaled deeply, and blinking her eyes once or twice, she looked up and around. She was in a strange, bright house that was nicely furnished and clean. Nicest thing she'd been in inside in a while. The sights  
and sounds were totally alien to her, but then the soft sound of steady sleep breathing invaded her ears. She turned to her side to see a sleeping Duo. She smiled to herself. He's so adorable when he's asleep, she thought. Sleeping, he doesn't look that  
much different from when he was a kid. Trying to keep quiet, she took her fingernail and gently tickled his eyebrow. He twitched, then smacked himself in the face.   
"Cut that out," he grumbled. He yawned, and then met her smiling eyes. "Zacha," he whispered. "You've come back to me. I thought you'd never wake up."   
She smiled weakly. "Hello, Duo." No other words were needed; the moment was one of touch and emotion. Finally, Duo ended the moment, getting up and helping Zacha to sit upright. She wasn't ready to get up and around quite yet, so Duo looked down at her  
happily. "How do 'ya feel? Anything hurt really bad? Thirsty? Hungry? What?"   
She half smiled at him. "Well, it's a bit fuzzy 'round the edges, but everything seems to feel fine. Not too much pain breathing or moving. As far as your question on hungry… fully. But hey, how long… have I been lying here?"   
"Umm, let's see… About four days, give or take a few hours." Zacha blinked as Duo went into the kitchen where sounds of talking could be heard. Duo returned promptly with a large stack of blueberry pancakes. "Here ya go, bon appetite! Blueberry pancakes  
aala Quatre! Enjoy em while they're hot." As he handed her the plate of pancakes and fork, she blinked in disbelief.   
"All of them? For me? Where'd you…?"   
"Quatre was cooking them and this is the plate of the cooked ones."   
"Duo… these are your friends' breakfast… You sure about this? Won't they be angry?"   
"Nah. Just eat. They can always whip up another batch. Besides that, their fault for not watching closer. Now eat! And don't you dare feel guilty about it." She'd lost the argument and gave into her growling stomach. It had only been less than a minute  
since he'd brought her the pancakes, and the stack was nearly gone. No sooner did she finish the stack, than did they hear the annoyed shouts of the Arab pilot.   
"Duo!" he yelled. "You bring those back!"   
Zacha swallowed the last of them and Duo laughed. "Sorry Quatre, but I'm afraid they're gone now!"   
"You ate them all?!"   
"Oh no, not me. I didn't eat them."   
"…."   
"..Zacha did. She's awake now!" Duo smiled playfully and took the plate back into the kitchen. Zacha just laughed. She sat there, thinking and looking at her bandaged wrists. Amazing, she thought. I'm certain I should have bled to death. She looked at  
all the dressed areas. Man, did I get banged up. Even my fights don't get me this bad; but normally I'm on my feet to fight, equal or outnumbered. If I ever see Bruno again alive, his ass is grass… She looked up to see Duo standing in front of her with t  
rest of the team. "Hey," she said smiling. "I'm Zacha, a friend of Duo's. You must be the teammates I've heard so much about."   
Heard more about us than we'd like you to know, thought Heero. Duo grinned, pointing them each out. "This is Trowa, Heero, Wufei, and Quatre."   
A long while was spent in merry conversation, (at least those who do more than glare. ^^), and as it came to a slow, Quatre popped a question at her.   
"So, what exactly do you do for a living?" Quatre asked.   
Zacha looked at Duo, then smiled. "Well, if you wanted one opinion, you can read a few cops' wanted posters and files on me. I'm a gang leader of L2, and unlike the stories, there is a purpose to my line of work; my gang and I do it to take care of my   
478 children." She grinned at the looks on Quatre's face.   
"4…478 children?? Man, and I thought I had a big family…"   
"No dear, not mine in that sense. I take care of all the war children I find. All the street children here, and then there's all the ones shipped in and put on the streets. My gang and I find them, group them and care for them. And…." She paused, her eyes   
widening a little. "Oh my stars… I've been gone for four days… Man, the gang must be frantic by now! Hey sorry, but is there any chance I can escape for a bit and tell them all it's cool? I mean, if I don't at least notify them that I'm alive, they'll  
go nuts looking for me and flaming all the wrong people… You follow, right?"   
Duo looked at Wufei. "Well doctor? What're your comments?" Wufei nodded, meaning she looked well enough to move around. Not too long after, she and Duo were walking through her gang's territory. With her usual stealth, she walked into her house, which   
was filled with her Ten Finest, as well as a handful of next ranking members and some of the older children. They were having a heated discussion on tracking Zacha, and going from there.   
"It's a good plan," came Jimmy's soft voice, "but we don't even know who took her."   
"Well one thing's for certain," said Four-Fingers. "We've got to find her and soon! After all that she went through to become leader, fighting to feed those kids all her life, after all's said and done, are we just going to give up on her? Announce her  
dead to the entire colony? No way! We've gotta get some kind of working plan organized so we can find her, dead or alive. But the tricky part is finding a plan that she'd go for; I mean, what would she do?"   
Zacha couldn't take this anymore; she'd laugh any stitches out and tear a few things. "What I would do," she laughed, "is relax, my man. Chill out guys; the situation's cool." They all ran up to her in one big tsunami, throwing a zillion questions at her  
in one breath. "Past is past; what happened is over, so it's all cool. I know I was gone a long time; I was busy regaining consciousness. Yeah, they got my hair. I know it's terrible. Yeah, I'll just be out wandering; you guys can go back to your posts  
if you want. Don't worry about me, guys." As the large group of people left, Zacha heaved a large sigh with a sweat drop.   
"Have a seat," she said as she sat on her bed mat. Duo looked around as he took a seat in front of her. She smiled. "I was going to wait for Christmas, but, since I'm going to have to blow this place up, I may as well give it to you now. Could you hand  
me that crowbar?" Duo handed her the crowbar as she got on the floor, counting boards and nails. She pried a few boards up, and removed a small metal box and handed it to Duo. "Here you go. Merry Christmas."   
Duo removed the tiny lock and lifted the lid. When he looked inside, his eyes were filled with wonder and old memories. Pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Pictures of the gundam team, video clips of the gang's best moments, pictures of the children over  
the years, of the children at the Maxwell church, of Father Maxwell and Sister Helena, of Duo and Zacha, and of Zacha and family. Duo studied each and every one, recalling fond memories. He looked up at her as she walked over to the phone with two disks.   
"So, outta curiosity," he said, "why did they kidnap you?"   
"For this," she replied, holding one of the disks. "I don't know for sure, but it's rumored that my father had a large hand in the original design of Mobil dolls and Mobil suits, and had helped with blueprints for the very first gundam suits. On this   
disk is everything you could ever want to know about any of these machines. Also has plenty of secrets about Project Meteor, and several other projects, military secrets and tactics of the Alliance and Oz, and enough information to control this entire war  
That answer your question?"   
"Yep. Question answered. So what's the other disk for?"   
"To hack into several other systems so they can't trace any old phone calls, then to terminate the account, and after that detonate the phone. Should only take me a few minutes."   
"Oh. When you're done, wanna go for that walk?"   
"Kay. I'm just about…. Done. Now, make sure that everything's ready… Duo, get your stuff and hope you don't forget anything. Okay… Now we get out of here… pronto!" Duo grabbed the box; she grabbed the information disk and shoved him out the door and to  
the other side of the street. She stood there, counting the seconds.   
"Wha…" Duo started. He was stopped in mid-sentence when the entire house exploded.   
"Couldn't stay there any longer. Wouldn't be safe, now that everyone knows where I live. So I had to blow it up. Don't worry. I do this all the time. Look." She pointed at the remainders of the house, revealing that only her house burned, and the surrounding  
ones remained untouched. "Okay, let's go! Where to?"   
Duo blinked. "Wow… nice one," he said. "Where to? How about to start with, you round up all the kids, introduce them to me, split them up into herds, and we take them shopping."   
Zacha shot him a funny look. "I'm okay with that plan up until shopping. Do you realize just how expensive it is to shop for just twenty of them? Never mind 478! How will you pay for that? You can't steal the clothing; I tried. Security's too high for that.  
Too many cops. So how do intend to pay for them all??"   
Duo sighed and grinned. "Well, let's just say that Treize and Zechs are generous enough to cover them. For you see, I have several of each of their major credit cards, debit cards and checking cards, and even access to private Swiss bank accounts. So I  
think it's safe to say that they'll be covered with plenty to spare."   
Zacha laughed. "Alright. I'll call them."   
"Well, let me give it a shot. Hey kids!! Come out, come out!" He blinked as his only reply was and echo.   
"Like I was going to explain. Let me call them. I've trained them better than that. See, coming to that kind of call could get them hurt. But they know my call. You might want to cover your ears; it's pretty high pitched." Duo watched as Zacha put her   
fingers to her lips and gave three sharp, shrill whistles, kind of like the whistles you do at summer camp. After a moment of silence, children began to appear by the dozen, out of very obvious hiding spots. She gave two low and short whistles, and they   
formed into little platoons. Duo gasped that there could be so many children; children from every colony, every age from infancy to teenagers. "Well Duo, here they are. All 478 of them. If you walk between the flanks, they'll introduce themselves, but I warn  
you; this could take a while…" Zacha took a seat on a trashcan as Duo began to meet them all, a process that surprisingly only took an hour and a half.   
"Wow," he said. "You have a wonderful family. They all seem to love you and being here so much… And what about your gang? Where are they?"   
"Oh, you'll meet them later. There's only about fifty or so in the gang, but there's some things you should know about them."   
"Like?"  
"Like the fact that many of them are ex-soldiers for Oz and the Alliance. I saved them, and they chose to stay here as one of us. These people come from all colonies and histories. We have poor Englishmen and descendants of royalty. Just… Try not to offend  
and pick a fight within the gang. Kay? But let's get started!" She gave five more whistles, and several adults came out and stood with the groups of children.   
"Alright everyone, listen up! This is my good friend Duo Maxwell, whom some of you have already met or heard stories of. He has a surprise for you all; Duo has generously offered to take us all shopping. Each child gets two new outfits; adults please   
make sure the outfits are slightly large for growing room. We'll go in the stores one group at a time. Children, please behave. Duo will hand you payment as you pass. Everybody, dismissed!" Each platoon passed by, Duo handed them a card. When the last of them  
had left, Zacha heaved a sigh and smiled. "Well Duo, I think that the rest of the afternoon is ours. Where to?"   
"Well, let's someplace to talk. I've gotta tell 'ya about my newest mission…"   
  
Hours passed, and Duo explained that his newest mission was to blow up colony L2, that the reason was unknown, and that Zacha had to get everyone together and off by next week   
"So you understand? You're not angry?"   
Zacha shook her head with a sigh. "No. Personally, I had a feeling it might come to this, but I just didn't know when. I don't really care about the upper-class area; they can take care of themselves. But what about my gang and children? Where will we   
put them for safety?? I can only get so many people to adopt so many…"   
"I don't know, but I can tell you this: we've got a refuge spaceship for your gang and kids. It can hold all of them and then some. What kids you can't find homes for go in there and then we all go to Earth. We can find homes for the rest there, or we   
can build a safe place and you guys can live there. Or both. How's that?"   
Zacha furrowed her eyebrows a moment, then looked up hopefully at her friend. "Alright, I'll go with that plan. But for now I'll need your help in contacting places to take my children.   
And so the next few nights were spent finding suitable homes for Zacha's many, many children. The children under the age of twelve had foster homes arranged, and those above twelve had an option: they could try to make it on their own or have foster care  
arranged. Some of the older children decided that they couldn't be separated from some of the younger ones and chose to make it on their own with their brothers and sisters. Duo had Trowa talk Catherine into taking about twenty-five or so. When she ask  
Zacha what she would do with so many, her answer was "Catherine, this is a circus. Think hard." In the end, Zacha had about ten children left, four teenagers to care for them, and her gang of two hundred.   
She was hiding her sadness very well. Her reason was that she didn't have time to be very sad; she had to get everyone ready to leave. The day before the scheduled bombing, Zacha scoured the streets, houses and all her hiding places for anything she may  
have forgotten. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Duo where the Church used to be. He was pulling up a large metal trunk, and told someone to load it into a cargo area of his gundam. Zacha walked off to a large, empty house and began to press   
against the walls when she heard someone behind her. She whirled around, relieved to see Trowa. "I wish you wouldn't sneak up on me," she said, still groping the walls.   
"Sorry," he said. "What are you doing?"   
"Looking for the right spot… Here it is!"   
"What spot?"   
"It's a weak point in the walls that indicates where to hit. Watch." She picked up a simple hammer and hit that area of the wall. Trowa watched as it came crumbling down, revealing a large stock of guns. "Would you mind tearing some down please? Just   
grab and pull; it'll come right out." Within minutes the wall was gone, revealing at least twenty different kinds of guns, and many of each, all neatly placed behind the wall. There were even machine parts to a beam cannon.   
"How did you… where did you…?" Trowa started, shocked by her stock of guns. Zacha smiled at him. "Well, some of these are payment from jobs past, and some we just stole. We'd hi-jack a fancy jet for someone, get the information or persons needed, and   
we'd get paid, and got to keep the jet. Well, we had no use for a jet, so we just scrapped it for it's more useful parts to make what we needed."   
Trowa raised and eyebrow. "Oh? Like what?"   
"For starters, these," she said, removing her hip bag. She dug out an assortment of devices, all of them being smaller than a silver dollar. "These are some of my favorite and most useful machines. Here are mini smoke grenades; good for escaping, distrations,  
and special effects for shows. And these wonderful little tubes are my mini C4 detonators. Each one has only a few grains of C4, but they're not to be underestimated. One can take out two of these town houses; three can take a block; seven is like  
small C4 bomb itself. And then there's the tiny light bombs, gas bombs and tracking devices. All home made out of scraps of everything." She smiled brightly, enjoying being able to show off her 'trophy shelf'.   
"So, you have over a hundred stolen guns, and I'm assuming they're for your gang. But where'd you get the beam cannon parts?"   
"Yes, the guns are for my gang and whoever needs them. As far as where I got the beam cannon parts… The gang helped to find the parts to build them, and I have all the plans." She paused, putting the guns into boxes, unloading them and packing them as   
she were simple moving them down the street. "And I should probably shut up now, as I'm telling you way too much information…" Trowa sighed in amusement. "No biggie; I'll tell ya more when I know you better."   
"Is that all you build from the scraps? Just more weapons and stuff?"   
"Well, yes and no. For now I've been making weapons for the gang 'cause we needed 'em. But, seeing as how we're all split up now, and what's left of us are goin' to Earth, we won't likely need them. I mean, I'll keep a stock of my detonators and the the  
things I keep in my bag, but I won't need all these guns. So I'm just take enough for all the adults to have one big gun and one handgun. But aside from weapons, I at least have designs for other handy things. The rest that I won't need I'll just be leaving  
ere; if you see anything you like, feel free to take it."   
Finally night passed and dawn came, and it was time to load everyone in the spaceship and evacuate L2 for Earth. Zacha stood at the door to the spaceship, making sure all children, gang members and supplies were on board. She gave a sad sigh as she watched  
the last of them board, thinking about how much she missed her children. She was about to board herself, when Duo gave her arm a gentle tug.   
"No," he said. "This ride isn't for you. You come with me, if you like."   
Zacha looked around at all her gang members and the few remaining children. She then turned her attention to Four-fingers; next to her, he was highest ranking and was to take charge in her absence. "Four-fingers?" she asked. "You think you guys can   
control them for the trip to our new home? Or do you need me here?"   
Four-fingers looked at all the gang, taking their votes wordlessly. "Yeah," he answered with a smile. "You go ahead; we'll be fine. Maybe on Earth we'll meet again." He walked up to her and grasped her shoulders gently. "Good journeys, my leader and friend"  
Zacha smiled, holding back tears. "And to you, old friend. Go in peace; you play leader for a bit. And when we all get back together again may it be of more peaceful times. Good journeys." He bent down and she hugged him tightly. She looked at the face  
of her gang and children; the faces of her peers, her followers, her family. They'd always been together and she'd always led them; and through victory or defeat and all setbacks and obstacles in between, they'd never deserted her, questioned her judgment,   
or considered for very long to vote against her. She was a good leader, and that was it. But now she handed the title to Four-fingers temporarily. She stood back as the doors to the spaceship closed and wondered if she would ever see her gang and children  
again.   
Duo took her gently by the arm, leading her to his Deathsythe, understanding her motherly pains. As the cockpit opened, she whistled in awe. "Niiice..." she said to no one in particular. "Very nice..."   
Duo smiled. "Thank you, and welcome. I'd like you to meet a very good friend of mine. THIS is Deathsythe; Deathsythe, this is Zacha. She's going to be staying with us for a little while."   
Zacha raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Duo.. You're acting as though it's an actual person.."  
"Well, in a way, Deathsythe is alive. He's an individual being with his own personal thoughts, opinions, biases,point of veiw and personality; sounds pretty human, ne?"  
"Duo, at times, I think you should be committed..." she sighed with a smile, walking in.   
Duo smiled at the gundam. "Don't worry, buddy," he said quietly. "She'll figure it out in time..." He followed Zacha in, continuing the 'tour'. "See? There's room enough for the both of us." He motioned for her to sit in a seat identical to his that folded  
out (a spare for company! ^^') As she sat down, she winced lightly as something bumped one of her still bandaged wrists. "You okay down there?" he asked as he took his seat.   
"Yeah, I'm cool... Just bumped my wrist, that's all. So this is your gundam? Not bad.. Not bad at all... No wonder you like this job! (I mean, look at all the BUTTONS!!)" She smiled as she looked around the cockpit, happier than she could show to be with  
her friend again. As Duo started it up, she quickly fastened her seat belt and tightly gripped the bars under her seat. "So what next?"   
"Well," Duo said with his Shiningami grin, "funtime begins.." Deathsythe started up, and was walking around the colony. Zacha gripped the bars tighter, but looked out the window watching every detail with wide eyes. Deathsythe stepped on cars, sliced   
buildings in half like butter, but then stopped abruptly for a moment. Deathcythe lifted his left leg to where Duo could see the bottom of his foot. "Eeeeww! I hate it when they get under my feet like that!" Duo said, wrinkling his nose. He turned and   
scraped Deathsythe's foot on the side of a part of a building. Zacha looked at what was scraped off and turned away disgustedly.   
"Oh!" she cried. "Duo! That's disgusting!" Duo shrugged at her and kept going. This went on for about twenty minutes; the destroying of the OZ base; before he flew off the colony. Floating about thrity feet from the colony, Duo opened up a fireing system  
and took careful aim. As Duo put his hand on the controls to fire, Zacha stopped him.   
"Zacha," he said, biting his lip. "I have to do this!"  
"No," she said quietly. "Let me; wouldn't want to give you guys too bad a reputation. The Hazzard will take care of this for you." Duo was stunned at her words as she called to the shuttle. "Four-Fingers, everything's ready. GO." The man gave a firm nod  
and pushed a button on a small detonator. Before their eyes, the colony exploded bit by bit. The younger children were ordered not to watch; older children watched in silence. A handful of the gang wept. Zacha simply bit her lower lip and heaved a sigh  
  
Duo looked at her, amazed that she would have the heart to destroy her own home colony. "Zacha..." He didn't know exactly what to say. L2 was their home. Now, the only other place they could safely go was a place completely alien to them; Earth.   
The shuttle flew in front of Deathsythe the entire time to make sure that it went safely. Hours went in quiet talking; Zacha played off her sadness very well. "Check this out," Duo said, pulling a box from uner his seat. He opened it for her, and revealing  
old pictures and a collection of crosses.   
"Oh my God!" Zacha exclaimed. "I remember this picture! This is the one James took of you and me after the mud fight! I didn't know these still existed." Duo simply smiled. "And where did you get all these crosses? There are so many of them...." Duo to  
the box.   
"Well, they're from all the colonies and Earth. This one's from Africa; this one's from France; and THIS one is the one you made for me at craft time." The cross he held up was made from about five different colors of Play-Dough, thick, lop-sided, very  
fragile and made with love. On one side was written in very wobbly handwriting: TO DUO. "I've always kept it in here, so it would always be with me. And there's a present in here for you; sort of a late birthday present." From the assortment he removed   
small black velvet box. Zacha's eyes widened as Duo opened the box. In it was a small golden cross with a small pearl in the center.   
"My God.. Duo.. Thank you... It's the most beautiful thing I've ever been given! Thank you!" He slipped the necklace around her neck and she studied it over. It was very simple, but she was simply enchanted by it. Duo smiled at her.   
"And there's another little surprise for you. Close your eyes." Zacha gave him a funny look, but did as she was told, unsure of what to expect. After another minute of her eyes being closed, Duo was ready. Deathsythe was positioned just right. "Alright  
Zacha.. NOW." Zacha opened her eyes, and was almost in tears. Here she was, in space, now staring straight at the Earth.  
". . ." She was speechless. She was now facing her new home, where she and her remaining children would live in safety and hopefully peace. It looked like something from a dream to her; the only word she could use to describe it was "heaven". Long ago,  
in the Church, she said she'd never get to Heaven, because she was bad. But now, she was proved wrong; she was still alive, and facing the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen outside of a dream. "Duo, if this new home's as wonderful as it is beautiful,   
know my children and I will be happy..."


	3. Rebirth of LIfe

**Cheyenne III** - _The Rebirth of Life_  


Zacha winced slightly as Deathscythe came into the Earth's atmosphere; it was the most awkward thing she'd ever felt, her insides shaking so violently that she thought they had shifted. She glanced to her side at Duo, who was smiling casually, humming "Miss American Pie." So far, Earth was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen, but it certainly hurt like hell getting in! Zacha raised an eyebrow and sighed, catching Duo's attention. 

"What's wrong?" Duo asked, looking at the areas he knew still hurt. "Daijoubu ka. There's another dose of that medicine Wufei gave you in the box under your seat if you need it."

"No, I'm okay. Still hurts a little, but I'll live." Zacha smiled up warmly at him, then into the screen at Earth. That beautiful green and blue orb seemed to welcome her as they came down at a steady pace. Closer and closer. Zacha's eyes shut as they landed, bracing herself slightly. Suddenly, all was still. All lights inside Deathsythe's cockpit were off, and no sound came from the engine. She looked up at Duo, who was removing the spacesuit and punching a few last buttons. Duo walked over to the cockpit door latch and turned, but did not open yet. 

Moving carefully around to Zacha, Duo helped to undo her suit and help her up. Guiding her by the hands, he walked her to the door. "Ready Zacha? Brace yourself." Duo smiled warmly as he pushed the door open. 

Zacha's bandaged hands flew up in front of her eyes, the light was so brilliant. It was nothing like the monitored light on L2. Nothing. She winced again at her own sudden movements, but gave them little mind. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness of day, they widened in awe. Green... There was so much of it... And fresh air, far from smelling like the air on L2, where the scent of agony and despair and death clung to it like a disease. The trees; the sound of birds singing; the scent of life; Zacha stood silent and spellbound by the richness of Earth. She had always seen photos and dreamed of it, but now all fell short of the reality. She had made it to a utopia of life

All the while she had been still, Duo had been on the phone. He looked up and smiled at Zacha, bringing her back to reality. "Hey Zacha, good news. We're gonna fly to our safe house by New York City, and you're going to be staying with us until we can get you back on your feet. Quatre says you can stay in the study."

Zacha smiled brightly. "Thanks!"

Duo laughed as he reopened the hatch to the cockpit. "Believe it or not, it was Wufei's idea that you stay; he wants to keep an eye on you and those gashes. He said something along the lines of the medicine may still be working out the toxins, so he just wants to keep you monitored just in case." That one had actually thrown him quite a bit; Wufei had actually suggested that she stay. (Go figure, right?)

Flying around in the Gundam wasn't so bad on the Earth; less resistance than in the atmosphere. :) And the scenery was to die for. Trees, lakes, old empty cities and towns, dusty roads that now led to nowhere; it was actually quite a show for Zacha. Within the hour, they had arrived. NYC... The Big Apple... Zacha's new home. Her eyes widened as she saw all the buildings go by; it looked a lot like L2, only somehow had more appeal to her. Duo stopped Deathscythe a little ways out from the city and parked it in front of a large truck. He opened the hatch again. 

"Gundam Airways has now arrived at the final stop. Please make sure that you have all of your personal belongings before exiting. Thank you for choosing Gundam Airlines and have a nice day." Zacha gave a light laugh as he helped her out and down once more. She looked around, loving the smell of trees around her. It was just so... invigorating. 

"Zacha, I'd like you to meet another good friend of mine," Duo said with a smile as an older man came out of the truck. "Zacha, this is Howard. Howard, meet Zacha, the girl I told you about before." 

The old man's eyebrow shot up a bit. Cuuuuuute, he thought, smirking inwardly. The kid sure knows how to pick 'em... "Hiya hon, I'm Howard," he said, trying his best not to stare at her chest. But as he took her hand gently to shake it, his attention averted quickly to the bandages on her wrists that went up her arm, and then followed them upward, now seeing the tips of the bandages on her chest area that were just visible above her shirt. "Oh my," he started, not quite knowing what to make of them. Zacha pulled back, her eyes on the ground and suddenly rather quiet. 

"I'll explain later," Duo whispered to Howard, who immediately got the hint.

"So," Howard said, changing to topic quickly as the edgy silence was starting to get annoying. "What're you two planning on doing until the guys get back?"

"Er.. I dunno.. I kinda thought I'd take her out shopping, pick her up some clothes and supplies. You know - just the necessities." Howard smirked and leaned forward into Duo's ear. 

"Le Petite Café Europa," he whispered. "49th and Broad St." Duo smiled and nodded. Zacha didn't hear or notice - she crouched staring in amazement at a bunch of wild flowers and a squirrel. 

New York City had to be the most amazing place Zacha had ever seen. So many people, free to do their own thing, so many sounds and colors.. She wanted to suffocate in all their uniqueness and magic. Zacha sat on the bed of the room she'd be staying in for the time being and looked around, adapting with a certain quiet grace. Her room was the spare that had been used for the study prior to her coming, and was now simply furnished. Nicest thing she'd stayed in for a while; for one thing, all four walls were there. It was just the right size, as Zacha had explained earlier, as she no longer had ten or fifteen kids sleeping with her all at once.

She and Duo had been out for a little while shopping, getting her some new clothes and things; just the necessities. Zacha peered out her window and hummed a little tune, something that she had learned a long time ago from Sister Helen. One of the few and only things she had learned to play on the piano. She hummed, and then began to sing it softly, her eyes closed and unnoticing of Duo, who stood at the doorway listening. 

"When you're smiling, when you're smiling,

The whole world smiles with you. 

When you're laughing, when you're laughing,

The sun comes shining through.

But when you're crying you bring on the rain,

So stop your sighing and be happy again.

Keep on smiling, cause' when you're smiling...

The whole world smiles with you..."

Duo laughed and clapped lightly, startling the daylights out of Zacha. "Wow... Been forever since I've heard that one sung." Zacha smiled brightly. That song had been very special, and was the reason Zacha had spent her teenage years singing wherever; because Sister Helen saw Zacha looking through antique music when she was six and decided to sit down and teach it to her. Zacha would sing it for Duo whenever he inwardly needed cheering up; they could always tell these things. It was also the song she used to sing for one of the babies she cared for before she died.

"Well, now that we have the basics, we can go have some fun!" Zacha blinked.

"...What did you have in mind?"

" I dunno... Dinner maybe? You know - let's just get you out of here before you get claustrophobic and out into the fresh air and sunshine! You need it right now." Duo smiled brightly. Don't worry, he thought. I'll take you to more exciting things as soon as you're fully recovered. Don't wanna do too much damage to you in one day.. "Well, let's go!"

  
  


The tailor smirked, admiring his handiwork. Duo had a hard time keeping his jaw up. Zacha was, for lack of a better word, simply sublime. They had gone into the heart of NYC that was still well populated and had a pretty decent selection of shopping stores. But when they went to several stores and couldn't find a dress that covered all of Zacha's bandages, some clerk had mentioned this elegant tailoring shop. Either the crew hadn't had any real work in a while, or they saw Zacha as something so exquisite that they simply had to give her the whole nine yards. Facial, make over, hairdresser fixed what was left of her hair, and the group of tailors and designers created a top-notch dress to die for. 

Red silk hemmed with black velvet and black velvet roses running all over the pattern tastefully; high mandarin collar with silver ropes to tie with; silvery-blue silk lining the inside of the dress; no shoulders and long Chinese sleeves that attached to identical silver rings on her middle fingers. Elegant, yet not over dressed; simple yet breathtaking. Duo paid for the package deal, still having a slightly hard time speaking words more complex than simple structured. In all of his years of knowing Zacha and growing with Zacha, rarely had he ever mused of Zacha in such a getup. 

Father Maxwell would've done pissed himself, he thought with a laugh as they headed out the door. Now, if only we could do something about her and not taking the stairs... "Wow.. Damn... You look fantastic!"

"Thanks," Zacha replied, looking herself over. "And they'll never even see the bandages. So. Ima doko ka."

Duo smiled. "A special restaurant. Le Petite Café Europa. It's a very nice European restaurant that serves food from all over Europe. We even have reservations!" The restaurant wasn't too far away, only a block or two. 

"It's adorable," Zacha said as she looked around at the cute settings of the restaurant. Oil lamps at the table with a small bouquet of flowers, dim overhead lighting and incense burning somewhere to give a soothing air about it. But while she stared happily at her surroundings, several of the customers and waiters were staring at her until wives or working partners complained. Not only did Zacha look beautiful, but she and Duo were also the youngest couple in there. She was still fully enthralled with her surroundings while Duo ordered wine and appetizers.   
  
"Well," Duo asked quietly over the table. "What do you think of it all? You know, the dress, the restaurant..."

Zacha snapped out of her dreamy trance. "Hm? Oh, yes. Thank you very much, Duo. This is all so wonderful... More than I ever dreamed of. I'm on Earth with you, the children are safe and happy, I'm alive and about to have wonderful food... What more could I want?" She smiled brightly. Surely she would be content on Earth, out and away from the battlefield and starting a new life in peace, near her best friend. More than her dreams had ever given her. Duo looked around the restaurant too as he waited on the appetizers to come.

Indeed, he and Zacha were the youngest couple there. They were also the best disguised; all of the people in the restaurant were much older and very rich. Duo and Zacha just looked like someone's children out on a date or something, spending their parent's money. But as long as they think of it that way, it's all cool, Duo thought, thanking the waiter aloud as wine and appetizers arrived.

Zacha hadn't noticed that as a news brief came on over a small radio. "As we all know, space colony cluster L2 was destroyed yesterday afternoon due to terrorist activity. Apparently bombs had been placed all over the colony and set off as the terrorists escaped, say OZ officials who are looking into the matter over the clock. There were hundreds in casualties, but thankfully a majority of the local residents escaped to another part of the cluster or to Earth. More on this tonight at eleven." The restaurant's chatter quieted a moment. Duo noticed that Zacha's merry eyes had suddenly softened. Baby, I'm sorry, she thought sadly. She shook it off quickly, turning her smiling gaze back to Duo. 

"Such a pity," an older woman said to the young couple. The woman was plump, and well past forty, her curled gray hair set neatly to frame her face. She smiled softly at the two. "And isn't it ironic that we have young love blooming in the midst of all of this mess? My name is Talla Nisbet. I'm one of the New York Church and Charity officials." Talla extended her hand towards Zacha. 

"How.. How do you do? I am Zacha, and this is my friend Duo. We're from L2."

"Oh, what a pity. I'm so sorry to hear that deary. What brings you to New York? Refuge?"

"Yes, actually. My friends are letting me stay with them until I can get my own place to live. I just arrived this morning."

"Well... wonderful for you. A whole new life! And what a handsome couple you two make! Indeed, I can see where this is headed..." Her husband and a few others chuckled slightly as Zacha gave a tiny blush. "What an occasion to celebrate, I'd say." Zacha smiled as Duo handed her a wine glass and stood up. 

"Yeah, it is something to celebrate. Zacha and I grew up with the Maxwell Church, and when it was destroyed, we both survived the loss. I left to fight and help out in the war and she stayed behind, her home decaying and getting only worse. Yet her letters and calls to me gave me the support, reassurance and confidence to overcome obstacles. And now, after all these years of her helping me, I am helping her. This is Zacha, my best friend in the world. I brought her here; this is her first time to Earth and will be her new home. Here, she will be able to start all over again without fear or death concerning her. A toast to old friendships that last forever through all odds, to health and joy in a new environment and to the start of a new life!" Several tables had stopped their conversations to listen and raise their glasses, and then to applaud. Zacha laughed, quite happy for the first time in months. 

Zacha lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. Tonight was one of the most wonderful nights she'd ever had. Clothes, dinner, new friends with important social standings, and a new life. She recalled all of the 'poor babying', pitiful looks and glances and all of the inquiries after they had mentioned briefly (and with vague details) hers and Duo's past association with the Maxwell Church. 

"Such kindness is rare," Mrs. Nisbet had said earlier. "For years I was an avid mission supporter and donator to war orphan funds. Now it's gone. All of my children are all grown up with families of their own or serving in the war. If only there were a fund here in New York that I could contribute to." Suddenly Zacha sat straight up in bed; lightning had struck her mind and given her a flash of inspiration. 

Mrs. Nisbet had been donating to the church for years for all of the children. The rations Father and Sister gave me when I came around probably came out of her purse occasionally. And if there were one here too, that'd give her something to take her mind off of her boys, and I could go back to my old hobbies... Zacha, you're a genius! I'll re-build it.. Stone by stone, make it look as much like the original as I can... Modified, of course to have enough room for myself and the children and outside area large enough for them to play.. And voila! The New Maxwell Church and Children's Home!

With a sudden burst of energy, Zacha bounced from her bed to the small desk at the other end of the room and started drawing as soon as she had dug out a pencil and a few sheets of paper. She was no Monet, but Zacha had always enjoyed drawing. Either designing costumes for a show or whenever she left that Godforsaken rat's nest, sketching one of the children, or doodling up a dream house. Now, she may actually get another shot at what she loved best and had met people who would donate to building it. She would have another chance to save the children. 

You see baby, she thought as her hand moved a mile a minute, the dim lamp light the only light in the safe house. I'm not forgetting you; never. See? I'm starting all over, with you baby as my good luck charm; you are my little luck angel. As she drew, her thoughts focused to years ago, trying to place everything as it was then onto the paper now. How many steps led to the big church doors; those marble steps that she would fall asleep on occasionally, or jump from step to step for the fun of it. How many rows of pews there were that she would play hide and seek in. Where each beautiful statue and painting was that she would stare at for hours, trying to find personal meaning and solace in. The way the sunlight would stream through the stained glass windows and create a very distracting array of colors during mass that would dance across the floor. What color the tiles that she would play hopscotch on were... Father, Sister, everybody... you will live again now, through this new church in your honor. Everybody's name will be accounted for, and so will all of the contributor's names. This will be something for everybody. 

Memories flowed from Zacha's mind to her hand with the least bit of difficulty. Also did memories of her little luck angel, Angela Helen. Of all of the children Zacha cared for, Angela meant the most to her, for Angela was hers. Slightly tan toned skin that lightened since her birth, strawberry hair, and the exact same fearless blue-green eyes her mother had. Angela was all of Zacha's joy in life. But as the war progressed, medicines were getting harder to steal. And when Angela came down with tuberculosis and Zacha couldn't get medicine to her, the most she could do for her was rock the baby to sleep to dream of a better life. Angela was only a year and a half old, and Zacha had just begun to recover from the loss when she was kidnaped by Oz. 

----------- 

It was December 14th, and Zacha sat in the kitchen, half listening to a small radio, watching Quatre at the stove, making tons of blueberry pancakes. Christmas songs played over all stations non-stop; Zacha had determined that if she heard one more version of Little Drummer Boy she'd puke. "And coming up at the top of the hour we've got local news updates and weekly weather forecast, including that evil four-letter S word. Coming up on WNYC." Zacha's eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out what the broadcaster was referring to, then looked over at Quatre. 

"Hey, you need some help there? I know how Duo eats," she laughed. Of all of the pancakes Quatre flipped out, 40% of them would end up as Duo's take. Quatre gave out a light laugh, not really having any objections to a helping hand in the kitchen. Zacha hummed lightly as she pulled out more ingredients for another batch of pancakes. Quatre just kinda blinked when he saw how quickly the young bandit worked, her hands a tanned nonstop blur. He finally took his attention off of her hands to ask her something that had kept him wondering all night.

"Ne, Zacha? Last night I saw your light on for quite some time. Was there something wrong?" Zacha stopped whipping the batter for a moment, slightly thrown off by the question. 

"No, nothing wrong at all. I just had flash of inspiration, that's all. But what were you doing up? Did I wake you?" 

"Oh no, it was just a little insomnia. But what were you so inspired doing that kept you at it for over two hours?" Zacha smiled with eager anticipation. 

"That I will show you all later, after I work out a few more knots and run it by Duo first. Or, just after we're all decently awake; too early for everyone to deal with funky plans with no coffee." She laughed at her own little joke, leaving Quatre rather puzzled when Duo and Wufei walked in. 

Wufei's ponytail was just as tight as usual, just like his smile, while Duo's braid was still slightly lopsided with several bed-head straggling hairs, a still sleepy smile over his face. "Trowa's hogging the shower," he muttered under a yawn as Zacha placed a large stack of pancakes under his nose. Quatre backed up and sat down, astonished at how quickly the tiny girl moved, taking the liberty of serving everyone the steaming stacks and cup after cup of coffee. Even Zacha ate two fair sized cakes, after giving into Duo saying please just right over her habit of eating sparingly.

Soon after, everyone was seated, now resembling a group of teenagers that were almost awake and social (or something close to social) human beings. By almost 10:30, when everyone was dressed, awake and responsive, Zacha smiled to herself and drew in a deep breath as she pulled out a thin stack of papers and cleared her throat.

"Hey guys," Zacha said, inwardly embarrassed and surprised at hearing herself sound so meek around the pilots. "I was up last night working on something, and I wanted your opinions on it."   


_(Hooray! Chapter 3 of Cheyenne is FINALLY done! To the ppl who have so patiently waited for me finish, I apologize for the wait and hope y'all are still interested and enjoy it! And take my word for it, there is WAY more to come. One more chapter or so of Cheyenne, then a whole new section... Won't say what it's about; E-san and Akurei, don't say a word or else lol. PLEASE tell me ANY questions or comments to help me out! //_^ Also have a few holiday treats on the way.. Later peeps!)_  
  
  
  


  
  



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